Cityspec App

“Human rights, like human beings can’t be fragmented. All rights impact on each other. The lack of water and sanitation impacts negatively on health, housing, food, education, safety and security and human dignity. Water is life. Sanitation is dignity.”

South African Human Rights Commission

More than 10% of South Africans still do not have access to running water or sanitation. 1 in 3 South Africans are not provided with basic sanitation and 26% live with sub-standard services. With the Cityspec App, VPUU advocates for evidence-based violence prevention strategies. We envision to empower people to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for the benefit of dynamic and sustainable communities.

Cityspec is a mobile inspection tool designed to improve delivery of essential services. Community members with little or no formal education can be trained to use this tool. The App is flexible to monitor a wide range of services such as taps, toilets or street lights. It can be user-customised with specific fault report codes. By replacing the paper-based system with this mobile technology, higher quality, more accurate and different varieties of data can now be generated and collected.

Can you imagine a world without technology?

We are using it to make our voices heard. We use information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) to learn, educate, communicate, exchange knowledge, collect, store and explain information. Cityspec is an ICT tool that puts the power of knowledge into the hand of communities for practical conversations that lead to improved public services.

How do communities report a broken toilet? Where has the App already been trialed and tested? How can I get involved? Download the flyer for more info here or contact us on Facebook @VPUUSA, email hello@vpuu.org.za or call +27 21 447 0086.